Daniel and Heather are two 'misfits' in a large city, both with their own secrets. With honesty, they can overcome being outcasts, but one of them isn't owning up to that vow and it could end them. First draft, please be gentle. M in later chapters.

I sat staring across
the room at her, listening to the sound of her magnified voice
bouncing off the walls. The club was crammed full of people as it was
every other Friday night since its opening just a few months ago. For
a new club, it was amazingly popular, although it was the only
teen club in town.

Heather, the lead
singer and bassist of the band on the stage, was easily the most
beautiful sight I'd ever seen; she was more beautiful even than my
dreams. I wanted her; there was no doubt about that. She was one of
the only reasons that I still came to the club; her band played every
Friday. Even now as I gazed at her from afar, she amazed me.

Her hair, which was
grown out much, much longer than most other girls', was dyed black
and was frosted with dark red. Her eyes were dark green, and she had
a cute little nose and soft cheek bones. Her lips were plump but
small, and her jaw and chin were a soft curve from her ears. Her slim
shoulders and thin neck were most always bare, and all the more
enticing because of it. Everything about this woman attracted me; her
height, her slender figure, her full breasts, her round bottom, her
tight calves. Just thinking about her made me tingle.

I loved the way her
voice sounded. She could sing and dance and play all at once and it
was magnificent. Her band was the only one that I ever cheered for,
mostly because it was the only one that I really listened to. I came
every night and checked the band list and then sat and waited.
Sometimes I looked for her, but it was easier after her set was over.

I watched her walk off
the stage after thanking the audience. She seemed to skip down the
steps on the edge of the stage. It was nearly impossible for my eyes
to follow her through the crowd, especially with people flocking to
her to give their praise. I kept her in my sights only for a short
minute before the crowd engulfed her. Disappointed, I turned in my
seat to face the bar.

Another band started
setting up on the stage, but I didn't care. I didn't really
listen when they started playing either, though it was hard to ignore
the shrillness of the singer's voice, and the sour notes that the
novice guitarist was playing.

"A coke, please,"
I heard someone say next to me.

I looked to my right,
and there she was. I'd never been this close to an angel before,
and I wanted to reach out and touch her.

"I can get that for
you," I spoke before she could reach into her pocket for cash.

She barely glanced at
me.

"Thanks," She said
as I laid the money on the bar.

I stood as she began
to walk away. This was my chance, and I wasn't going to let her get
away.

"You sounded really
good on the stage; I like your voice," I shouted over the noise in
the room.

"Thanks," She said
again; I couldn't tell if she was trying to loose me or if she was
actually going somewhere.

"Have you been
singing long?" I asked, barely keeping pace with her.

She stopped and turned
around.

"Look, I don't
know you, and …"

"My name's
Daniel," I held out my hand. "You're Heather, right?"

She eyed my hand
cautiously before taking it. I smirked at her before leaning down,
all the way down, to kiss her knuckles.

"And I'd like to
get to know you," I leaned in by her ear to speak this time.

"A lot of guys say
that to a lot of girls. Then they have their fun and leave. I don't
need that," She informed me.

I laughed, although I
wasn't really amused at all.

"I'm not one of
those guys," I told her, smiling.

"Oh really, you've
never done anything? Ever?" She clearly didn't believe me. With
how attractive she was, I could understand why. This couldn't have
been the first time she'd been hit on, after all.

"Nope, I'm saving
myself," For you.

She rolled her eyes
and turned to walk away, but I kept following her. I tried to keep my
cool, but I was getting desperate. She got trapped against the wall,
and I had to admit to myself that I kind of felt bad for her. She
looked so helpless, and I felt like a lion hunting down a wounded
gazelle. A lion that wanted to lick the gazelle's wounds clean, and
help it to prosper beside the lion.

"Please leave me
alone," She said to me, and I could tell that she was afraid. Her
eyes were downcast, and she had her arms wrapped around herself. She
even looked about to cry.

"I-I'm sorry," I
stuttered. This was the last thing that I'd wanted to do to her. "I
didn't mean to scare you or anything. Maybe we could talk somewhere
quieter?" I suggested, praying that this would help.

I saw a couple walk
away out of the corner of my eye, and then she was gone. The world's
tiniest hole had just opened and she slipped through it like water
through a strainer. I cursed loudly, not caring whether or not anyone
heard. I made my way back to the bar to finish my water before
leaving. I didn't know if she was still around or not, and to be
honest I didn't really care. I was completely and utterly screwed.
I'd finally gotten my chance to make a good impression on this
perfect creature that didn't even know of my existence and what did
I do? I fucked it up royally. God had to be punishing me for
something; I just didn't know what yet.

As I started the
engine in my beat up old camero I checked my phone. Eleven forty
seven. This had to be the first time I'd ever gotten out of that
place before midnight. I didn't even want to go anywhere, and I
certainly didn't want to go home. There was really no point in
going home. There never was.

I sped off down the
road, not caring about the speed limit. The cops didn't start
patrolling the club until around one in the morning, so I wasn't
worried, and even if they did I don't think it would have made much
difference. I was pissed, cops or no cops.

"I can fix this,"
I told myself as I slowed down to stop. "Think, Daniel, think.
There's gotta be something I can do to fucking fix this."
I growled the last two words.

I pounded my head
against the headrest a couple of times before closing my eyes and
breathing deeply. My ears were ringing and my heart was still
pounding; I needed to calm down and think.

Suddenly, I heard
screaming. Not happy screaming, but terrified screaming. It was a
girl's scream. I pulled the keys out of the ignition and grabbed a
pocket knife out of my glove box. Okay, it was a lot bigger than a
pocket knife, but what the school security didn't know wouldn't
hurt them, right?

I pressed myself
against a building and peeked around the corner. There were two guys,
maybe three, and a small-ish looking girl trapped between them. They
were laughing, and shoving her around, and I could see that they had
bats or clubs of some sort. There were plenty of trash cans for me to
hide behind on the way there. Part of me considered calling the
police, but by the time they showed up this poor girl could be dead
or worse.

As quickly and quietly
as I could I slipped from trash can to dumpster to trash heap, each
time getting closer and closer to the group.

"What's wrong,
don't wanna play with us?" One of them teased, laughing.

"Yeah," Another
joined in. "We just wanna play!"

The third man just
laughed, giving her a hard shove to the ground.

"Play with us!"

They were wearing
clown masks and hoods to cover their faces and hair. Dark gloves
covered their hands, and dark pants and boots added extra camouflage.
I felt a metal bar next to my foot, and I grasped it tightly. My
heart racing, I stood just as they went to grab her.

"Why don't you
play with me instead?!" I shouted at them.

They all looked, and
one even laughed.

"Looks like we've
got another new friend!" The chuckling fiend observed.

I ran at him with the
metal, ducking just in time to avoid being clobbered in the face. I
hit him hard in the knee, and he crumpled, dropping his weapon. A
second man came at me, and I slashed at him with the knife but
missed. I swung at his head with the metal and caught the mask, which
went flying. Lucky for me, it caused him to drop his weapon in
attempt to conceal his identity. He ran down the alley; away from my
car, thank god. The third one looked unsure of what to do, so I ran
at him, screaming in what I hoped was a menacing tone with the metal
raised above my head. Apparently it worked, because he quickly joined
his partner. I knew that the first man was escaping, but I didn't
care. They could get away all they wanted as long as I got the girl
to safety.

"P-Please, please
d-don't h-hurt me," She begged when I turned to her. She was
scooting away from me, and when I took a step I saw her face.

"Heather?" I
panted, hardly believing my eyes.

We were both silent
for a long moment.

"Come with me, I
need to get you out of here. You're safe with me, I swear," I
dropping the metal and shoved the knife under my belt.

She hesitated, and
that hurt me deeply.

Of course she's
hesitating! I mentally berated myself. She probably wouldn't
even be here if it wasn't for me.

We walked quickly to
my car, and I was careful to keep my distance from her. I didn't
want to scare her off again.

"Lock the door," I
told her as I sped off.

"Where are you
taking me?" She asked, and I couldn't help but notice how cute
and innocent she sounded.

"Away from here at
least. You should get cleaned up before you go home, or do you want
me to go back and…"

"NO!" She shouted,
knowing what I was going to suggest. "No cops, please no cops. My
parents can't know this happened."

I nodded.

"Okay, no cops," I
agreed, relieved. "Where do you want me to take you then?"

"I-I don't know.
Anywhere," She ran her fingers through the loose strands of her
hair that framed her face. God she was beautiful.

"Um… are you
hungry?" I asked awkwardly. "I could stop at McDonalds or
something and you could get cleaned up there while I'm ordering."

She accepted the offer
quietly and with a blush.

The rest of the ride
was quiet except for her occasional sniffle, but I didn't know what
to say to her really so I just kept quiet. I mean, what do you say to
a girl that just almost was gang raped?

"So, um, what should
I get for you?" I asked, pulling open the restaurant door for her.

She told me and then
made a beeline for the ladies' room. I ordered our food and got a
seat for us, ordering an extra ice cream for her. Girls liked comfort
food, I reasoned. She'd like that, right? I didn't know for sure,
but I thought she looked like a vanilla girl.

She emerged a few
moments later and sat in the booth seat across from mine. She glanced
at me before unwrapping her burger to eat. I did the same. It was
polite to wait to start eating when you were in a group, wasn't
it?

"So..," I started
before joylessly laughing once.

She stopped chewing
and looked at me with her cheeks full of cheeseburger. I fought the
urge to chuckle at her. Damn she so fucking adorable. How was
it even legal to be like her?

She swallowed her food
and then nibbled on her lip before setting the burger down. Why
wasn't there something I could do to make this less awkward?

"Thank you," She
spoke so quietly I almost didn't hear her.

"I can't accept
that," I didn't look at her, but I felt her questioning gaze. "It
was my fault you were in that alley, wasn't it?"

I looked over at her
to see her staring down at her lap.

"If I would've
just done what I do every other goddamn week at that club you
would've been safe," I pounded my fist on the table. I ran my
fingers through my hair and sucked in a deep breath.

"I-what?" She
sounded confused. "Every other week? I don't understand…"

I chuckled, opening my
eyes to glance at her just one more time, drinking in her pale cheeks
and bare chest. Black and red were clearly her favorite colors, she
wore them well. Her tank-tops revealed her pale chest, and I wanted
nothing more at that moment than to wrap my arms around her waist and
lay my head over her heart and make everything be okay.

"Don't worry, I'm
not stalking you or anything," I spoke somewhere between a joke and
seriousness. "I just…you play every Friday. You have a beautiful
voice and you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen…" At
this point it was like trying to stop a flooding river. I couldn't
hold it in. "I come to that club every weekend for two reasons: to
listen to you, because your band is amazing, and to try to hunt you
down and get on my knees and beg you to let me be yours."

I trembled when I was
finished speaking. I couldn't really have said that to her, could
I? I licked my lips nervously, praying that she took this news better
than I was.

"Is that why you
saved me?" I looked up to see tears in her eyes. I couldn't tell
why they were there, but I'd do anything to make them stop.

"No! I heard someone
scream, I had no idea it was you! I was in my car beating myself up
for scaring you off!" Again?! I just couldn't keep anything to
myself!! DAMNIT! "I-I swear, I had no idea that it was you until
after!"

I was begging God to
let this end well.

"I was so afraid
that it was going to happen again…" She said, obviously more to
herself than to me.

"W-what
happen…again?" I was confused.

"Isn't being raped
once enough?!" She buried her face in her hands and cried.

I whipped around that
table and was sitting next to her faster than I thought was ever
possible.

"It'll be okay,"
I spoke to her. "I promise, I'm going to make this better.
Heather, I'm so sorry," And I meant it.

"I can't keep
doing this," She sobbed into her hands. I didn't know what she
was talking about, I really had no clue. "They already took one
baby away from me, I can't…I can't…"

I wrapped my arms
around her and pulled her against my chest.

"Let it out…" I
whispered in her ear.

I don't know how
long she cried, but I would've waited forever if it meant getting
to see her smile at me just once. She just sat there in my arms;
tired with a stranger in a McDonald's booth with a half-eaten
burger and a puddle that was once known as ice cream lying before
her.

I wasn't sure what
to say, so I just didn't bother thinking anymore.

"No one deserves to
have a child stolen from them," I told her, not sure why I said
that or what it meant.

She didn't cry as
I'd expected her to, but instead looked up at me with those sweet
green eyes.

"My parents…they
ripped him out of my arms the day I left the hospital," She told
me. "I knew they would…one of my friends, he brought a camera. He
recorded the birth, and he took so many pictures and developed them
for me. I didn't want to forget my first son. I still remember how
tiny he was, and what his first kick felt like when he was in my
belly…"

I ran my fingers
through her ponytail as she spoke to me. My head was resting against
hers, and for a long moment I didn't care. So what if she'd been
raped? So what if she was a childless mother? She was still perfect,
and she didn't have to be childless forever. I could give her that,
I realized as I nuzzled into sweetly-scented hair.

"Daniel?" She
looked up at me.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to take
me home," Those weren't quite the words that I'd wanted to hear
her saying, but I realized that she was right. I stood up with her in
my arms and carried her out to my car. The workers could take care of
our mess as far as I was concerned. If they hadn't heard her crying
than there's no way they were out where they were supposed to be
anyway, so they deserved it.

As I walked with her
she snuggled up into my chest, and I couldn't help but smile. She
was scared of heights; a lot of girls were; it wasn't anything
unusual. Just adorable. I've got to find a new word for her.

Yet, as I set her down
in the passenger seat I simply couldn't find a word for her. One
just simply didn't exist, and in a weird way, I was okay with that.
I didn't need a word for her; I could just remember her as she was.
I could take her picture and show her off when I wanted to talk about
her beauty, and I knew deep in my heart that the world would
understand that. They had to, who could ignore it? I couldn't; not
now and not ever.

"Where do you live?"
I asked her, and she gave me directions to her house. This time the
silence between us wasn't so awkward. I wouldn't say it was
comforting, sleepy maybe, but definitely not comforting. Or awkward.
I kind of hated it though, because all I wanted to do was hold her
again.

It took about ten or
fifteen minutes to drive to her house, but when I pulled up I was
amazed. Her house was huge. There were all kinds of trees and
gardens in the front yard, and, from what I could tell in the dark,
she basically lived in a miniature white house. Awesome!

"You can park in the
driveway," She told me. "My parents are gone for the weekend."

So I did. After I
stepped out of the car I walked around and opened her door for her
and then she led me up to the front door.

She looked at me. Her
hand was on the door handle, and it almost seemed glued there the way
she was holding it.

"No," She replied.
I wanted to cry. It took everything I had not to break down on the
spot. "You should come in though."

I wasn't sure what
that meant, but I followed her inside. God, her house was clean. I
didn't think that operating rooms were this clean. Hell, I half
expected the carpet to gleam at me.

"Come on," She
said, walking to a staircase. Her house was amazing. The front door
led to the kitchen, which I thought was kind of strange, but the
living room was right there too, and the dinning room. The staircase
separated the living room and dining room neatly, but it made them
look squished too. Weird.

She walked ahead of me
up the stairs and turned around the corner, so I lost her for a
minute, but once I got to the top I heard her in a room off to the
left of me.

"You can do
whatever. It doesn't really matter when you leave, as long as you
won't be in trouble," She told me. She must have heard me come up
the stairs because I wasn't in her room yet.

"I get in trouble
for breathing," I started to say as I stepped into the room.

When I saw her, I
froze up for a second. She was undressing right in front of me! I
turned quick, not wanting to be rude and also taken waaaay off guard.

"I-I'm sorry, I
didn't know what you were doing!" I tried to explain quickly.

"It's okay. You
already know my darkest secrets, so whatever you see now doesn't
matter," She sounded broken again. I needed duck tape, just to put
the pieces of her back together while I learned how to mend glass.

"If it doesn't
matter than why can't I see you again?" I asked quietly, almost
hoping that she didn't hear.

"That wasn't what
I meant," I felt her standing close now, but I didn't want to
turn to her. She would've seen the tears in my eyes then, and my
pride wouldn't let me reveal that part of me. Not yet anyway.

"Then what did you
mean?" My voice cracked as I started speaking. Please, God, don't
let her make fun of that.

"I-I meant that I
didn't want you to leave," She wrapped her arms around me from
behind, and I felt her head on my shoulder. "It's been a long
time since I really felt safe with anyone…you know?"

Yeah, I did. But I
didn't say that. I could feel the tears trying to come out now. Why
didn't I just let them? I turned around and put my arms around her
again. It was hard to hide that I was about to cry because of her
height. I wasn't very tall, maybe five foot ten, but I only had two
or three inches on her.

"After everything
that's happened to you, how can you just trust me?" I asked her
quietly.

She was quiet for a
moment.

"I didn't at
first. When started talking to me it kinda freaked me out; most
people just say "Hi, you were great!" and then they're gone,
but you held on. But…I don't know. I mean, if you're willing to
beat up three guys trying to rape a random chick that just happens to
be me then…your worth it right? I could trust that kinda guy and be
safe with that kinda guy, right?"

She took my hand and
led me over to her bed, shutting her door as she passed it. She
didn't have the largest bed in the world, but there was enough room
for two thin people like us to snuggle.

"I won't leave
you," I vowed in her ear as she was dozing off. There was a light
switch by her bed, and I reached over to switch it off. "Never,
never, never. You'll always be safe as long as I'm here."

That was the first
night we spent together. It wasn't the last, but it was the most
innocent. As I watched her sleep in my arms I smiled to myself,
coming to the realization that I wouldn't have had it any other
way.

7

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